1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of transmitting content data for printing a content via a network. In the specification hereof, the terminology of ‘print content’ or ‘content’ means any of various pieces of information including documents, images, and their combinations and especially refers to printable information. The ‘content data’ means data representing such a content.
2. Description of the Related Art
A company generally delivers advertisements to its customers by mail or by facsimile. The mail and the facsimile are also used for delivery of materials for distance learning from a correspondence organization to its students.
The mail delivery system provides the respective customers or students with high-quality prints of advertisements or materials as print contents. The mail delivery system, however, requires the large manpower for the mail delivery, thus undesirably increasing the cost and taking rather long time for the delivery.
The facsimile delivery system, on the other hand, does not require the large manpower or the long time, compared with the mail delivery system. The facsimile delivery system, however, still needs the communication cost and does not provide the customers or students with the high-quality print contents.
The advancement of the Internet enables very low-cost transmission of information. The development of high-performance printers and complex machines enables relatively low-cost and high-quality printing in homes.
Known techniques for transmission of information via a network are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-109701 and No. 2003-178028 and Patent Application Publication No. 2005-516320.
In the above circumstances, it is required to develop a system of utilizing a network, such as the Internet and printing terminals including printers and complex machines to enable low-cost and high-quality delivery of print contents.